tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post4198278071129363369..comments2018-02-13T15:00:39.263-05:00Comments on That's alls I know: Classic Doctor Who: ranked & reviewed (#40 - #31)Tommy Kraskerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-9567034807591187082018-01-20T10:13:45.281-05:002018-01-20T10:13:45.281-05:00Having grown up in the &#39;60s, and having seen e...Having grown up in the &#39;60s, and having seen effects just as bad on American television, I mostly marvel at what Who could accomplish. I think often you&#39;re both aware of the limitations of the budget, and impressed by what they do within those limitations. And sometimes, I just sit and marvel at how much they learn from week to week, as with &quot;Planet of Giants,&quot; where you see, as the episodes go by, the director and cast and crew learning, over time, how to master working with giant objects and making them convincing. There are really only a few times the production values (or lack thereof) hamper my enjoyment. I&#39;m bothered when a script refers to a luxury or a grandeur that&#39;s simply not there (as in Omega&#39;s lair in &quot;Three Doctors,&quot; which the cast keeps saying looks spectacular, but which is, in fact, a bunch of drab gray walls brushed in turquoise) -- I just think, &quot;Why didn&#39;t you fix those lines when you saw what the set really looked like?&quot; And the rotten monster design work in Seasons 17 and 20 bothers me; even on a budget, that couldn&#39;t be the best they could do. (The Ergon and Garm are low points for me, precisely because they&#39;re so at odds with the aesthetic of the Davison years. As bad as Erato and the Nimons and the Mandrells are, I&#39;m actually more forgiving of them, because they seem more in line with the cheekier style of Season 17, and Baker&#39;s own anything-goes approach at that time.)Tommy Kraskerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-11777069694468235702018-01-19T16:13:15.670-05:002018-01-19T16:13:15.670-05:00I can&#39;t tell you the first episode of Doctor W...I can&#39;t tell you the first episode of Doctor Who I saw. When I was a baby and a toddler, the family always tuned in for it. But for all the strengths of The Time Warrior you&#39;ve mentioned, I suspect that something else burned Linx the Sontaran into my mind, guaranteeing him a place in my earliest memories: the phenomenal make-up job. As a small child, and for a long time after that, I couldn&#39;t imagine how they&#39;d made that dome-shaped head. Of course I knew it was an actor, but it was utterly convincing to me. (Sadly, by the time of The Two Doctors, Sontaran heads looked like balloons with faces drawn on them.)<br /><br />The classic show&#39;s production values come in for a lot of stick, and some of the effects were risible at the time: Talons&#39; rat, I&#39;m looking at you. Still, it&#39;s worth acknowledging what amazing work the team was capable of, and how, at the best of times, it used to have my eyes out on stalks. (Exhibit B: Eldrad&#39;s crawling hand.)David Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00894786973064551928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-48916163767138250632018-01-17T10:36:31.454-05:002018-01-17T10:36:31.454-05:00You&#39;re right, of course. But I suspect, at any...You&#39;re right, of course. But I suspect, at any age, we all at some point feel the &quot;power&quot; of our connection with the Doctor. (It&#39;s built into the format, as I see it -- that the relationship he forges with his companions mirrors our perceived relationship with him, as I mention in my review of &quot;Castrovalva.&quot;) I adored Peter Davison -- and the Fifth Doctor -- right from his first serial, which I watched in December of 2011. I loved watching him act, and probably as a result, was beguiled by that era, both the buoyant highs and the brutal lows; I truly became &quot;a fan&quot; during those weeks of watching Davison. And so then, when he regenerated, and this new guy&#39;s first words about what he represented were &quot;Change, and not a moment too soon,&quot; I was actually annoyed and angry. What do you mean &quot;not a moment too soon&quot; -- the last era was great. You think you can do better? Do the writers not see how glorious Davison was? I had a visceral adolescent response, based on the bond I&#39;d developed with the Doctor due to my adoration for Davison&#39;s talents and take on the role. And I was 52. So it happens to the best of us, at any age! (That said, I didn&#39;t start flooding the internet with Colin Baker hate...)Tommy Kraskerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-3788440375941610692018-01-16T16:18:47.225-05:002018-01-16T16:18:47.225-05:00The thing about that kind of love for a performer ...The thing about that kind of love for a performer (perhaps especially a Doctor) is that it is so much to do with the age you were when you saw it. All of the TB worshippers I know are 5-10 years younger than me or thereabouts - in other words, they were the same age I was when my own particular God, Pertwee, was on. And something about TB&#39;s brand of charisma *really* got to people and crystallised this childhood adoration into something unique. One of my local group said, commenting on Baker&#39;s surprise appearance in &#39;The Day of the Doctor&#39; - &quot;and every man in his forties burst into tears&quot;. I was *just* too old when he started, and you, my dear chap, were *way* too old when you first found him...tjpieraccinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00536427543616664938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-89993864422066024272018-01-12T23:18:27.672-05:002018-01-12T23:18:27.672-05:00I remember so well when Philip and I started watch...I remember so well when Philip and I started watching Classic Who in 2011: for the first dozen or so serials, we went into them knowing nothing in advance. We didn&#39;t want to have any preconceptions about the Doctors or the companions or the stories. It wasn&#39;t until we saw our first Fifth Doctor story, &quot;Castrovalva&quot; (and were so blown away by Davison&#39;s performance) that I decided to venture online, specifically so that I could enjoy seeing others bask in his genius as well. And I came upon one unofficial Doctor Who site, and there were some people just slamming him -- angrily. One guy did it, serial after serial, in all caps. I couldn&#39;t figure it out: not just why they couldn&#39;t see his evident acting skill, but what they were so angry about. And then, of course, I read a bit of the history, of how beloved Tom was and the trouble some people had in letting go. It still boggles my mind, but now at least I understand the psychology better. Actually, I think as odd as I find the Davison hate, I&#39;m more baffled by the unconditional Baker love. I find a good 30% of his performances pretty appalling (and so disrespectful to his fellow performers -- I guess that&#39;s what bothers me most), but I know some fans don&#39;t see it -- or if they see it, they don&#39;t mind it. Bugs the crap out me, though...Tommy Kraskerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564935526936828636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768495027896028196.post-64672114691567746372018-01-12T20:55:05.929-05:002018-01-12T20:55:05.929-05:00I think this was my favourite set of your reviews,...I think this was my favourite set of your reviews, specifically because of what you said about Tom Baker and Peter Davison. Truth be told, Tom Baker is probably my favourite <i>Classic Who</i> Doctor. He was the first Doctor I ever knew growing up, and for that reason (and because it&#39;s a non-negotiable part of UK law), I love him unconditionally. Despite three Doctors coming before him, he formed my image of what the Doctor should be like. And yet, in your description of &#39;Fang Rock,&#39; you pretty much nailed Tom Baker. By the second half of his tenure, he started disappearing up his own arse. His early stuff was the best. Then the scripts, the budget, and the production values all went down the toilet. Peter Davison came along at exactly the right time and reinvigorated the series -- as new Doctors often do. <br /><br />And I appreciate what you said about the irrational response some continue to have towards Davison to this day, as witnessed by last summer&#39;s fiasco with everyone jumping all over him for something he actually didn&#39;t say about Jodie Whittaker. I get frustrated with internet vitriol, too. Davison got a hard time because of the Tom Baker love-fest. (Matt Smith got his fair share of nastiness, too, when he arrived, what with Tennant being such a popular Doctor.) And it seems like Davison continues to be a target for some people who, 35 years later, still can&#39;t get over Baker leaving. Paul Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02927027468227544676noreply@blogger.com